Yeah, I loved it! Definitely snagging that next time I go looking for shows to d/l. Even “Easy To Love You” sounded pretty good: I kid, I kid... I love Brent! As Rob Bleetstein said in his intro “You got the impression this new guy was gonna work out.”
20 October 1974- Winterland. The first set is outta sight! The Tennessee Jed will knock your socks off, and the China Cat Sunflower > I Know You Rider is simply gorgeous.
I was watching a little Family Feud, and the clue was, "Name an animal that doesn't have a leg to stand on." So the two families are naming animals w/o legs. One family says, "amoeba," and the host is like, "Are you sure? Wanna think about that?" "No, we're going with amoeba." "The survey says ...." [Buzzer [X]] And then the camera pulls back and their name is Stoner. The Stoner family. I thought that was hilarious.
You can find Mexican that surpasses anything in the Northeast at a hole in the wall off of I-80 in Nebraska. My buddy and I did just that, and I was like, "Why was that Mexican food so good?" And he said what I said a few posts ago. AND he lives in Denver, but is from NY.
There's been much talk over the past two years or so regarding the Buffalo, 5/9/77 Slipknot! and how great it is. I've no quibble with that view, but I just A/B'ed 2/26/77 and 5/9/77 and 2/26/77 is clearly superior in my mind. It's probably because Phil is an absolute beast on 2/26/77 and Jerry's false harmonics coming into the recapitulation and eventual transition to Franklin's are pure audio gold. If nothing else, I'm appreciating '77 GoGD, so inroads are being made. No one asked, but I felt like sharing...and taxonomy is more complicated than most folks realize.
I've always found second-set "Slipknots" to be better than than first-set "Slipknots" in any given year. I seem to recall liking 6-9-77 better than 5-9 as well.
I absolutely love Dave's 21. It's not as jammy as some other 73 shows but man they sound great that night.
On it. [Edit]: Wow, Jerry's seriously digging in on the 6/9/77 Slipknot!. And Bobby's guitar is on the edge of feedback for much of it. I dunno, Phil's not really up the mix, so I'm conflicted. But the 6/9/77 Slipknot! is right up there.
Combined with the proven track record of technical expertise being the soundman for Steve Kimock and being based in Marin are a couple of factors that don’t hurt.
He lives in Sandy Eggo. Let's remember that he is very well connected- source material makes all the difference. Eaton's DAT copies of the Vault reels are second only to fresh and proper transfer of the master's themselves, provided they have not degraded in any way.
6/9/77 has been my favorite. I admit I don’t generally compare head to head and that tape has been with me for a long time, which may cloud my judgement.
The Winterland June 77 box often gets overlooked, which is totally understandable after the stupendous month of May that preceded it. But, it IS a fantastic suite of shows with tons of great twists and turns hidden throughout. The Eyes on 6/8 is pure beauty, and the Help > Slip > Frank on 6/9 is just divine. Too many other highlights to take in, and I’m realizing I haven’t listened to it in quite a bit. Need to rectify that this weekend.
Too bad they printed up so few copies of it. It was an overcompensation for the poor sales of Winterland 73 I guess.
However, the Winterland 73 box was available in stores and online for many, many years at prices often below retail/Dead.net. Whereas, once the 77 box was gone from Dead.net, you couldn’t find it anywhere for less than $400. I suppose that, in a sense, it set the precedent for the numbered, limited-edition, “Buy it now or regret it later” racket they’ve run since then. I get it. They don’t want inventory sitting on the shelf. I mean, who does in any business?
I just put 6/7,8,9/77 on my iPhone to listen to on the go. It's a phenomenal run in fantastic Betty Board quality. It really is a crime that so much of the limited GD boxes remain OOP and are not at least available digitally.
I love 1973 so much. As others have said, the November Winterland box is also a must-have. Get it with the bonus disc if you can -- the full set does appear at reasonable prices more often that I would expect, and it's very close to the top of my list of favorite GD releases. Dave's 5 is harder to find at a reasonable price, but you'll want it. All the fall 73 stuff is just wonderful. Yeah, and you need Dave's 16 (3/28) too. It pairs so nicely with Dave's 21.
I don't really get why keeping inventory wouldn't just be a regular part of doing business. They keep all of their studio albums, and even Kingfish and Heaven Help the Fool, in print, although I imagine that some of those aren't big sellers. You want Live/Dead, or some other live Dead? You can get Live/Dead or the 3-CD Fillmore West 1969, as well as 2/11/69 Fillmore East at dead.net. Also, a From the Vault box, or the first two in that series individually. Ladies and Gentlemen and Rockin' the Rhein are on their website, as well as Skull & Roses and the two volumes of Europe '72. Either Get Shown the Light (All Music) or To Terrapin is there for you, if you want some '77. The expanded Dead Set from '80 is available, too. At Amazon, you can still get The Grateful Dead Movie Soundtrack (and, until recently, a new copy of the DVD), or The Closing of Winterland on DVD (but the CD's are apparently only secondhand). Real Gone Music has brought back some of the Dick's Picks and Road Trips, even if they're missing the stupid "bonus discs" and cost more than I'd like. But, for some reason, even though the secondary market shows that there's high demand, keeping a regular stock of the box sets like the full Fillmore West '69, the Winterland boxes, the first May '77, or Europe '72 Complete (or the individual shows)--which should be tentpoles in the catalogue--is not feasible. Crazy.
Amen. Shame that one of the best shows of the tour has been sliced and diced across 4 releases, and that a multi-track of the Loser with Garcia’s solo louder in the mix hasn’t been released.
